The Paladin in the Abyss

"Owww..."

This, of course, wasn't any fatal attack, but Lancelot still very cooperatively let out a scream.

After beating up the Human Knight, Tijana seemed to be in a much better mood. She pulled out a heavy bag and tossed it carelessly, pressing the struggling Lancelot, who was trying to get up, back down to the ground.

"This is your reward," Tijana explained to the others, "Rest well. In no more than five days, you'll need to depart again."

Having said that, she waved her hand, and the glow of Teleportation Magic lit up, causing the figure of the Succubus Lord to disappear from the dining room of Hagrid Manor.

And from Lancelot's angle, he could just make out Tijana's upturned lips.

"Big brother, are you alright?" Bruto poked his head out, looking down at Lancelot, who lay on the ground with a silly grin on his face.

"What's gotten into him?" the Dwarf cast a plea for help to his friends, "Did he damage his brain?"

No one answered him; even little Isah looked at him with the expression one reserves for a fool. Lancelot himself rolled up from the ground in one swift motion, dumping the entire bag of gemstones on the table with a clatter and proudly proclaimed,

"Come on, bros, time to split the money!"

"Wow!" The Dwarf's eyes shone brightly, "Emeralds, opals, starlight rubies, all the good stuff!"

Lancelot's attention, however, was first drawn to the mountain crystals mixed in among them, which were equivalent to Upper Grade Spirit Stones. There were easily fifty or sixty pieces, and although not highly valuable, they made up half the quantity, clearly a collection Tijana had specifically gathered for him.

"Not more, not less, exactly fifty thousand," Bruto swiftly sorted and appraised the gemstones like a whirlwind, "That's without counting those Earth Crystals."

"Let's each take eight thousand, and give Kalalin and Korado a thousand each since you two have spent quite a bit on casting materials and purchasing supplies," Lancelot looked at everyone, "I'll use my share for Isah's equipment purchases, if she passes the test tomorrow. As for Eckmond's share, I'll hold onto it for now—no objections, right?"

"No need, no need! I'll do it myself!" Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

The voice of the skull came over, and everyone turned around, pleasantly surprised, to see Eckmond shakily flying toward them, then crashing onto the pile of gemstones and groaning,

"Aaah, I'm so dizzy!"

"Haha! Eckmond, you definitely did that on purpose!" Isah laughed and joked, poking fun at the skull, then looked at it with concern at the frightening cracks on its head, "Does it hurt? Do you feel any better now?"

"You've got some tough life force, that's for sure." Bruto said in amazement, "Looking at those wounds, I thought you'd never wake up again."

"Ah, no worries, no worries; this has happened before, wounds like these will disappear in a few days," the skull struggled to rise back into the air, "By the way, my name should be Cromwell."

"You've recovered some memories?" Lancelot curiously asked, "Is it because you saw that Flame Demon from the deep pits of Hell, right?"

"It might also be because I got whacked on the head," Bruto offered another possibility.

"Perhaps it's a bit of both," sighed the skull, "I understand now why I initially thought my name was Eckmond, for that is the name of my enemy. I've recovered some extremely painful memories, all of them scenes of being tortured and tormented by that Demon Refiner named Eckmond and his minions."

"You're safe now, in the living room of Hagrid Manor, lying atop the rewards for this quest, surrounded by friends who care about you," Lancelot gently comforted, "Is there anything else? Other than your name, have you recalled anything else? Like what you used to do?"

"No," the skull gloomily said, "Perhaps these terrible memories were the ones I went to great lengths to forget."

"The Flame Demon from the deep pits of Hell has been defeated by us, it will be trapped in Barto Hell for the next 99 years, unable to trouble you," Lancelot said with a reassuring smile, "But maybe one day we will take a trip to the Nine Hells and make that creature pay for what it did to you."

"Wow, boss, you look so cool when you say that," the skull, now called Cromwell, grinned, "So what happened afterward? How did we manage to escape back to Twin Bridges Town?"

"What do you mean 'escape back'?" Lancelot replied discontentedly, "Why couldn't we have defeated that creature?"

"If there were eight of you there at that time, maybe it would've been possible," the skull, full of cracks, quipped, "Let me guess, you used the Amulet given by the disfavored, right?"

"Did I have any other choice?" The Human Knight spread his hands and briefly recounted what had happened afterward.

"Ah, a duel between a Flame Demon and a Demon Refiner, how could I miss such a scene?" lamented the skull, "The moment I saw that Demon Refiner, my mind exploded, and I had no other thought but to beat that creature up..."

"Don't be so impulsive next time," Kalalin consoled, "Otherwise, you could have seen your enemy getting cleaved in two."

Afterwards, they talked about other things.

As night fell, Koula, Alamir, and the skull (everyone was still a bit unaccustomed to calling it Cromwell) all went to rest; little Ysa turned into a small bat and flew to Tijana's castle to continue her training; and Bruto headed off to the Blacksmith's district, where, with the story of this adventure, he was going to have more ale than he could drink tonight.

Lancelot, however, was seated cross-legged on his bed, checking the condition of his body.

Since he had not fully recovered, he was unsure whether he had reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement Realm. But this adventure first yielded the Essence of Flames, gifted by the 'Lord of Baro', Kaldu, and then he absorbed the Spiritual Energy of a six-armed Serpent Demon.

Added to the inadvertent improvement during the fierce battle, Lancelot had an intuition that the opportunity for Foundation Establishment might arrive soon.

He had saved up one hundred Upper Grade Spirit Stones required for Foundation Establishment, about two-thirds of which were acquired with Tijana's help, a debt of gratitude that was significantly heavy. Lancelot silently vowed in his heart to repay the Succubus Lord's kindness a hundredfold in the future.

But Foundation Establishment was not something to be rushed. The wisdom of Spiritual Cultivation left in the small bamboo slip by Han Tianzun made it clear that, cultivators before Foundation Establishment had insufficient clarity in their perception of heaven and earth and of themselves, making it difficult to judge the success rate of their breakthrough.

Thus, it was crucial to prepare thoroughly, to attack this first major barrier in the path of Spiritual Cultivation in the best possible state.

The Human Knight pushed aside these chaotic thoughts, calming his mind slowly, and began his daily routine of seated Meditation and Qi Cultivation.